![Petrus Christus - Portrait of a Young Woman [c.1465-70]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7487/16074900080_af0cb71528_o.jpg)
Christus frames the girl in a rigid and balanced architectural setting. She sits in a narrow triangular space, and the wall behind her is largely flat. The image is divided by the right angle joining an inverted triangle formed by her dress, and the horizontal lines of her neck, face and headdress. The rendering of the background departs somewhat from contemporary conventions in portraiture: Christus sets the girl against a dark brown wall with little detail, in contrast to the elaborate interiors of Jan van Eyck, who is often regarded as Christus' master. It is defined entirely by its material, a wooden dado that forms the lower half. The wall sets her in a realistic interior, perhaps intended to represent a space within her home.
Light falls on the pictorial space from the left, creating shadows against the back wall, the strongest being those cast by the girl’s rennin (her headdress). The depth of space provided by the back wall gives room for this detailing, which Charles Sterling believes is indebted to van Eyck. The light throws a murky but curved shadow on the wall behind the girl and acts as a counterpoint to the contour of her cheek and hairline.
[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin - Oil on oak panel, 29 x 22.5 cm]